Jones is human – he gives up two sacks

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, November 27, 2005

SEATTLE – Walter Jones couldn’t remember the last time.

When asked the last time he gave up a sack, the Seattle Seahawks’ Pro Bowl left tackle thought for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders.

Before the New York Giants’ Osi Umenyiora beat Jones for two sacks on Sunday, Jones had put together such a long streak of sack-less games that not even he could recall the last one he had surrendered.

“I can’t remember off the top of my head,” Jones said after Sunday’s 24-21 overtime win over the Giants. “But, hey, you could say Walter Jones is human; he gives up sacks too.”

On Sunday, Jones finally looked human. Umenyiora got enough of a push on him in the second quarter that the Giants’ 6-foot-3, 280-pound defensive end was able to slap the ball out of quarterback Matt Hasselbeck’s arm. While Jones recovered that fumble, he also had to suffer the indignity of allowing his first sack in more than two years.

Unofficially, Jones hadn’t given up a sack since Washington’s Bruce Smith got one on him on Nov. 9, 2003. Thirty-one regular-season games had passed before Jones gave up another on Sunday.

Making matters worse, Umenyiora got by Jones again a few minutes later. And Jones was later called for a holding penalty in overtime.

Seattle’s Pro Bowl left tackle, who could probably count the amount of career sacks he had allowed on one hand, looked surprisingly ordinary on Sunday.

“I don’t want to give up sacks, but it happens,” Jones said. “(Umenyiora is) a great player, he’s out there working too, and you’ve just got to give him his props.”

Hasselbeck had been sacked a total of three times over the previous four games, yet he got dropped for losses on three occasions Sunday. The most remarkable part of that stat was that two of them came from the defensive end lined up across from Jones.

“It’s tough,” said Jones, a ninth-year veteran who has been to five Pro Bowls. “You don’t want to do that, but it happens in this game. I try my best for it not to happen, but it happened (Sunday).”

The waiting game: The Seahawks are becoming slaves to technology lately, having had nine calls go to video reviews by officials over the past two weeks.

Seattle saw two calls get challenged in Sunday’s overtime, both of which went their way.

An apparent 16-yard reception by Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey was later ruled incomplete after video replays showed that he never had control of the ball. That ended up being a crucial play when New York kicker Jay Feely missed a 54-yard field goal attempt that was 15 yards longer than it could have been had Shockey been awarded the catch.

A few minutes later, the Seahawks’ conversion of a third down was challenged by the Giants after they believed that Bobby Engram’s 5-yard reception was trapped. But replays upheld that call.

The technological news was not all good for Seattle, however, as two key calls went against them in the final five minutes of regulation.

Holmgren challenged the spot at the end of a reception that saw Engram reach the ball toward the first-down marker on a third down deep in New York territory, but replays upheld that call and forced the Seahawks to go for it on fourth down.

Less than three minutes later, officials looked at Amani Toomer’s touchdown reception in the back of the end zone, which pulled the Giants within a two-point conversion of tying the game. That call was upheld, and the touchdown stood.

Fourth down … so what: For the sixth time this season, the Seahawks went for it on fourth down Sunday. And for the sixth time, they were successful.

That kind of success – 6 for 6, for those scoring at home – makes Seattle the only team in the league to convert 100 percent of its conversions.

Sunday’s attempt was as crucial an opportunity as the Seahawks have seen all season. Staring at fourth-and-1 with 41/2 minutes left in regulation, Seattle opted to go for it from the Giants’ 4-yard line while leading by a single point. While the potential of failing to convert could have put the Giants in position to kick the game-winning field goal, the Seahawks extended their lead to eight points when running back Shaun Alexander fought his way past the first-down marker and into the end zone.

“I was thinking, we’ll get this; we always get this,” said Alexander, who has nine yards on two fourth-down carries this season. “I just ran hard, and they were blocking hard, and I just ran like I knew I was going to get it.”

Alexander has continued to thrive in short-yardage situations this season. In addition to his fourth-down success, he is 11-for-11 converting third-and-1 tries.

Iron man? Giants punter Jeff Feagles, a former Seahawk, set the NFL record for consecutive games played on Sunday. His 283 straight appearances mark one more than former Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman Jim Marshall.

While Marshall has been quoted as saying he did not mind the record being broken, some people around the league have taken exception to a punter holding it.

“Man, a punter?” Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell told the Minneapolis Star Tribune earlier this month. “That needs an asterisk. And next to that asterisk, it should say: ‘Jim Marshall, defensive end, holds the real record.’ ”

More numbers: Alexander now has 20 touchdowns this season, making him only the fourth running back in NFL history to record back-to-back seasons of 20 rushing touchdowns. Emmitt Smith (1994-95), Marshall Faulk (2000-01) and Priest Holmes (2002-03) are the others.

Alexander also maintained his lead atop the NFL in rushing, with 1,339 yards this season.

One that got away: To a man, the Giants left Qwest Field on Sunday believing a victory slipped through their fingers.

Tight end Jeremy Shockey, who led the Giants with 10 catches for 127 yards and a touchdown, even left the locker room with some swagger.

Seattle is ”a good football team,” he said. ”But if this is the best there is (the Seahawks lead the NFC at 9-2), we’ve got some positive things coming for this team.

”Any time you have that many penalties (16), it’s hard to overcome them. But surprisingly we really did overcome it. .. We know how good we are as a team. This team has a lot of weapons on both sides of the ball and today we gave a great effort. We just didn’t win the game.”

Quick slants: Seattle starting cornerback Kelly Herndon injured his left knee and watched most of the second half and overtime from the sideline. He left the field on crutches, but his status for next Monday’s game against Philadelphia was not known as of Sunday evening. … The Seahawks’ inactives included defensive tackle Marcus Tubbs, who missed his third straight game due to a calf injury. Rocky Bernard started in his place and recorded another sack, giving him a team-high 81/2 this season. … Seattle went one stretch during the second and third quarters during which its offense failed to convert a single first down over six drives. … Right guard Chris Gray played in his franchise-record 101st consecutive regular-season game. Gray’s streak comes with an asterisk, though, considering that he missed the playoff game against Green Bay two years ago due to an ankle injury.